San Benito keeps Chargers at bay with 1-0 victory Tuesday at San
Jose’s PAL Stadium in Division I semifinals, will square off
against TCAL rival Gilroy in Saturday’s championship for a second
straight year
SAN JOSE
For the San Benito Lady Balers, knowing was half the battle.
Grasping to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the seventh on Tuesday, with Wilcox’s Christina Montez sitting at second base with one out, San Benito manager Scott Smith called a timeout.
“When I called timeout, I just figured that’s the best athlete on their team,” Smith said of Montez. “She’s probably gonna try and find a way. She’s probably gonna try and steal third.”
And San Benito knew it was coming, too. It was an intuitive call by Smith that was executed to perfection by the Lady Balers, and only helped preserve a 1-0 victory over Wilcox (21-6) in the CIF-Central Coast Section Division I semifinals at San Jose’s PAL Stadium.
“It was unbelievable,” Smith said. “The very next pitch, that’s what they did.
“And it worked out great. That was a huge play. That was huge.”
When Charger Amelia Vivo showed bunt on the next offering, drawing third baseman Bre Fata to the plate, a sprinting Montez broke for third base. But San Benito shortstop Jessica Vest was well aware, and shadowed Montez toward the bag.
“I was running with her,” Vest said.
And after Vivo missed the bunt, catcher Marissa Adame delivered a strike to Vest at third base, who quickly slapped the tag on Montez and ended the Chargers’ final threat.
“We had just talked about it,” Vest said. “We knew she was their best athlete and that she was gonna steal.”
How’s that for a starting nine that includes six underclassmen?
Pushed to the brink in a one-run game, the gutsy victory advances the three-time defending champion Lady Balers (26-4) to its fourth straight Division I title game, where it will be up against a familiar foe in Gilroy (16-12-1). The Mustangs edged fellow league rival North Salinas 7-6 in 10 innings on Tuesday, setting up a rematch of last season’s Division I final, which the Lady Balers won, 8-3.
First pitch will be at 10 a.m. on Saturday at PAL Stadium in San Jose, and it will be the fourth meeting between the two teams this season – San Benito has won the previous three games by a combined 20-3 margin.
“It’s probably gonna be the hardest game I’ve pitched against them,” said San Benito starter Marisa Ibarra, who’s 11-1 lifetime against the Mustangs. “We’ll just have to play our best.”
Smith said Ibarra pitched perhaps her best game of the season on Tuesday, though – not bad for the senior hurler who struggled with velocity and battled shoulder tightness last Saturday during a 4-1 win against Piedmont Hills in the CCS quarterfinals.
“That was her best game all year, I think, as far as control and having all of her pitches,” Smith said.
Ibarra’s complete game shutout, which included seven strikeouts, three hits and a pair of walks, was even more impressive considering Wilcox was averaging slightly more than six runs per game this season, and hadn’t been held scoreless all year.
“The team needed to be a team today,” said Ibarra, who improved to 26-4 on the year and 107-11 for her prep career. “We needed everybody for this game.”
Not short on defensive highlights – San Benito received outstanding defensive performances from Brittany Hoff in left field, JC Clayton at second and Jessica Steigleman at first, among others – the Lady Balers scored the game’s only run in the first inning, and following a pickle, no less.
After Clayton singled on and stole second – the BYU-bound senior was 2-for-3 with a walk and three stolen bases – Vest’s chopped single bounced over the head of Wilcox third baseman Taylor Henson but was within range of a streaking Montez at short.
Clayton, meanwhile, didn’t hear Smith’s calls to stop at third and continued to sprint home, drawing a throw to the plate by Montez.
“I tried to hold her up,” Smith said.
“But JC is so fast, as a coach it forces you to make your decision earlier than you want to. By the time [Montez] got to it, and I was trying to hold her, [Clayton] was already gone.”
Montez’ throw reached home in plenty of time, and Clayton came within approximately two to three feet short of the plate before she slammed on the brakes.
“That was a little close,” she said. “Usually in situations like that, I’m going all the way. I heard Scott (Smith) yelling ‘base,’ but I didn’t catch on until I was a little close to the catcher.”
Following a quick reverse of directions, though, Clayton got into a pickle on the third-base line and stayed alive long enough when the pitcher Vivo dropped the ball at the plate, giving San Benito a 1-0 lead.
“She did her thing and made it home,” Vest said.
And it would be enough in the end; enough, at least, for the Lady Balers to advance to the Division I final a fourth time.
Said Ibarra, “Every kid wanted it and everybody left it on the field.”
SB – 100 000 0 – 1 6 1
WL – 000 000 0 – 0 3 2
WP: M. Ibarra (26-4)
LP: A. Vivo (14-4)
